By Phil Giles
March 16 2003

Giancarlo Fisichella has put the record straight on the current batch of rumours surrounding the Italians future in Formula One. Despite having made it public that he wants to drive for Ferrari, he remains very 'appy with the progress made over the winter by the Silverstone based team.

Giancarlo said last week that 2003 would be a difficult year in a good car but one that would be difficult to improve upon. 

"I think that it will be another difficult year but I am looking forward to the future." he said.  "It is the best time for Ferrari to have an Italian driver. They have the best car, they won three titles with Michael Schumacher and I think the Tiffosi are waiting for only one thing: to see an Italian driver win with an Italian car!"

It's difficult to explain any other reason for comments like this except to say that the chap isn't happy with his time at Jordan and clearly wants to move on.

Since these comments were made, Giancarlo has not made a complete U-Turn on his comments but has tried to explain his reasoning.  He issued a statement to the Official Jordan Site to clarify the matter.

“There have been some reports saying I am not happy at Jordan and speculating about who I will drive for next season. Unfortunately the press have blown things way out of proportion and these reports don’t reflect my feelings.”

“Eddie gave me my first proper chance to race in F1 and I had a fantastic season with the team in 1997. I was delighted to come back to them last year and when I said the last two years have been difficult, that included my final year with Benetton. My point is that I want to have a competitive car - Jordan know that and they have worked really hard to deliver a good car this season.”

“I have been very pleased with the way the Jordan Ford EJ13 runs in race trim, and I’m looking forward to comparing our performance with other cars once fuel strategies become clearer. There is a lot of work to do until we fully understand the potential of the car and know where we can improve, so it’s too early to make any definite assessments other than to say it’s positive. The car and engine are running strongly and because I believe that the key to success is development, I am 100% behind the team in working together to achieve our objectives.”

“Our target is fourth place in the Championship and I think that points are achievable at every race, indeed I was very close to scoring some in Melbourne.”

“Some of the stories circulating are about me wanting to leave Jordan for another team. I’m only committed to one team and that’s Jordan. They have put together a strong package with Ford this season which I’m excited about, but I think every driver on the grid has a dream to drive the best car, and I’m no exception. Even Eddie has said he would love to see me in a winning car! My target for 2004 is to drive a car that can win and that doesn’t exclude Jordan Ford. Right now I am committed to working with the team to make sure we are doing the best we can this year, and our common aim is to make the car competitive enough for Jordan to win races again.”

“I feel unhappy for the staff at Jordan when I read speculation like this because I know they work very hard to give me a good car - and it is clearly better than last year’s EJ12. I find it disappointing that whatever comment I make it seems to be portrayed as critical about the team, when in fact I am working very hard to help with the team’s development so that together we can improve our level of competition in the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships.”

“Hopefully now we can leave the gossip behind and concentrate on the next Grand Prix, and I can’t wait for it to start!”

Jordan has had an extremely difficult time over the last few months.  The winter saw major sponsorship losses, but the team has survived and now must start to rebuild for the future.  Their first outing showed the progress made by the team since a disastrous 2002 but it still shows that the car needs further time.  Ralph Firman showed that he has the ability required and Giancarlo's performance was as good as it can be.  However with both EJ13's failing to finish the race it's understandable that Giancarlo's feelings were so strong at the time.

We wish the team all the best for Malaysia and hope that the EJ13 can start to turn promise into points.  We know that the team has one of the strongest drivers on the grid and the team, like in rugby will have to "use it or loose it".